We look at and comment on some of this year’s winners of the prestigious International Aquatic Plants Layout Contest.
WORDS: NATHAN HILL
THE INTERNATIONAL AQUATIC Plants Layout Contest (IAPLC) is the global equivalent of the Formula One Grand Prix for aquascapers. Founded in 2001 by the late aquascaping pioneer Takashi Amano, it attracts a swathe of planted tank enthusiasts from around the world to compete against each other for a coveted position as creator of one of the aquascapes of the year.
In 2023, despite ongoing geopolitical unrest, the contest managed to attract 1850 individual entries from a combined 78 countries: an admirable number for such a niche subject, despite being some 10% fewer entries than 2022.
Here we present the top seven aquascapes in the world, as ranked by the IAPLC, alongside the judging panel’s comments on each (edited to tidy up some areas of translation from Japanese), as well as PFK editor Nathan Hill’s own thoughts.
7th place THIRD BRONZE PRIZE GRASP
7TOTAL SCORE
1020
Minh Tran Duc, Vietnam
• Dimensions: 12x60x45cm
• Plants used:Anubias nana ‘petite’, Fissidens sp., Micranthemum sp. ‘Monte Carlo’, Hemianthus callitrichoides ‘Cuba’, Leptochilus pteropus ‘narrow’, Hygrophila pinnatifida, Rotala rotundifolia ‘green’, Rotala rotundifolia ‘H’ra’ , Leptochilus pteropus ‘trident’, Helanthium tenellum ‘red’, Bucephalandra sp., Taxiphyllum sp. ‘flame’, Bolbitis heudelotii, Isopterygium sp, Trifolium sp., Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides
• Fish added:Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi
IAPLC JUDGES’ COMMENTS: The third Bronze Prize goes to this work for its impressive use of driftwood. In addition to the bold placement of large driftwood as the base, the entire layout is covered with thin driftwood in all directions, giving the impression that the roots of the giant tree, as the title suggests, firmly grip the earth, and dominate the entire jungle area. It may be reminiscent of the banyan trees that grow in the jungles of Southeast Asia. In order not to erase the impression of the driftwood, the aquatic plants are planted with a focus on epiphytic species. The space under the driftwood is effective, and the fish well positioned.
NATHAN HILL: An exceptionally busy tank, the real mastery seems to be at the flanks—note how the concentric rings of wood both left and right carry through to the reflection, giving the sides a seamless look. Glances of light allude to a depth far behind the hardscape, and the overa
